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Autodesk Software Forum · Autodesk 3D Studio

#Compositing TGAs?

10 messages in this thread

#93357From: Bill NiemeyerMar 25, 1994 12:11 AM

I want to create an animation that is the product of compositing three sets of 480 sequentially numbered full color TGAs with Alpha channel information created by 3D Studio. These are ultimately to be a Cinepak Quick Time movie. How do I do it? – Video Post will only composite one frame at time. It won't read sequentially numbered TGAs for compositing. – Premiere on the Mac will do it but the alpha channel data in the 3DS files isn't being read correctly, even when the files are written by 3DS as TIFFs. Is there a known work around for this? – Is there a third party program (PC, Mac or SGI) that can do batch mode alpha channel compositing? Thanks in advance for your help. A beautiful sunrise over a exotic looking planet depends on it. Bill Niemeyer

#93358From: david masonMar 25, 1994 12:19 AM

Bill, You could try DTA… it's a command-line utility that can do batch compositing. The latest release is available somewhere in this forum's libraries. Also a beta of the next release is over in the GRAPHDEV forum. The syntax would be something like this: DTA BACKGRND.TGA /L FORE*.TGA /FT to create a new set of TGA files, or: DTA BACKGRND.TGA /L FORE*.TGA to create a flic. –dkm

#93367From: Yost GroupMar 25, 1994 12:46 AM

I don't know what you mean by "Video Post will only composite one frame at a time". You can composite as many layers as you want, per frame, using sequentially-numbered files or .ifl files. What do you mean? – G

#93422From: Bill NiemeyerMar 25, 1994 10:52 AM

Gary, Turns out it wasn't working because of operator brain fade. I just tried it again this morning and of course it works. Thanks for your help. Bill

#93373From: John TissavaryMar 25, 1994 1:57 AM

>>- Video Post will only composite one frame at time. It won't read sequentially numbered TGAs for compositing.<< That's news to me. I JUST finished compositing 10 seperate image sequences of 576 frames (.tga) each. You may want to seriously study the tutorial covering Video Post – I believe you'll find it'll do exactly what you need. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#93423From: Bill NiemeyerMar 25, 1994 10:52 AM

John, Thanks, it does indeed work when my brain is working correctly. Thanks for your help Bill

#93465From: John TissavaryMar 25, 1994 3:04 PM

Glad you got it working. I have drain bamage, too. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#93502From: Gary K. SimMar 25, 1994 6:09 PM

Me too, but don't you hate it (in retrospect, of course) when you realize that you've let everyone see it?

#93514From: John TissavaryMar 25, 1994 7:52 PM

Makes my cheeks turn red. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#94212From: BILL CLAGHORNMar 29, 1994 1:02 PM

The Diaquest MacIntosh product has alpha channel compositing and will do what you want. Contact your Diaquest dealer.